Parade honors Belle of Takoma Park'

Annual Independence Day festivities pay tribute to longtime community activist and event organizer

This story was corrected on July 6, 2009. An explanation of the correction is at the end of the story.

When the last of the fireworks burns out Saturday, many families will pack up to head home, content with yet another Takoma Park Independence Day. Yet few will know the satisfaction of Mary Ann Miles and other members of the planning committee.

For more than 40 years, the festival committee was organized and run by Belle Ziegler, one of the city's most dedicated servants, who first took on the task after being named the city's recreation director in 1968.

Even though Ziegler retired from city government in 1990, she continued to contribute to the annual event, tackling everything from recruiting volunteers to ensuring a suitable lineup for the parade. After she died Dec. 14 at age 88, the success of this year's 120th festival will rely at least in part on Ziegler's legacy as Miles and the rest of the committee celebrate the theme "The Belle of Takoma Park."

Ziegler will be honored in the parade with a special float: a pick-up truck that will feature several large photographs of the activist in the parade. There will also be announcements made throughout the parade that point out the history of the event and Ziegler's influence through the years, according to Miles, who cited Ziegler as a major inspiration in planning the event this year.

Because Ziegler took so much upon herself each year, her successors found picking up where she had left off to be easier said than done, explained Miles, new chairwoman of the Takoma Park Independence Day Committee.

"I have some big shoes to fill," said Miles in a telephone interview Friday. "It was really difficult for me this year."

At the same time, she said, just the memory of Belle has been powerful enough to inspire many of the planners to excel. Simply recalling Belle's habits and talents was enough sometimes to reveal hidden solutions to planning problems, she said.

"Even when we folded the paper invitations [to dignitaries] I said, Well, Belle liked to fold it this way, so that when you open it you see this big font first,'" she said. "We thought about her a lot while we were doing the lineup; she was almost in the room with us in the meetings."

And even if Ziegler wasn't in the room to dispense advice or take charge, her proven knack for inspiring activism in others paid off as the committee's ranks swelled to 25 volunteers this year, Miles said.

City Councilman Terry Seamens (Ward 4) stepped in as president of the committee, while Takoma Park resident Kay Daniels-Cohen brought years of experience organizing Laurel's Fourth of July Parade.

"[Belle] certainly gave us huge, huge shoes to fill where the committee has had to become a bit larger," Daniels-Cohen said. "The only reason I got on the committee, and I wasn't going to do it because I'm on 42 other committees, was because of her memory."

Despite the sense of loss, some planners were quick to point out several benefits of new ideas. For example, the parade route has been extended this year to end at Maple and Ritchie avenues instead of in front of the Community Center at 7500 Maple Ave. as before. The change will allow the elderly living in the apartments along Ritchie to see the procession without having to walk too far, Seamens said.

Included in this year's parade will be floats and processions by the county chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Greenbelt Dog Training Marching Drill Team, the Takoma Park Lesbians and Gays group, a 1931 Model A Ford coupe from Roland's Unisex Barbershop and a variety of bands, groups and individuals, according to the committee's Web site.

"We'd talked about our desire to improve things and do things differently," Seamens said of the earliest meetings. "We set out at the beginning of the year that we would just try to duplicate the past ... but we were still able to make some changes."

-The 120th Takoma Park Independence Day parade will begin at 10 a.m. at Ethan Allen and Carroll avenues. The parade will travel down Carroll, turn right onto Maple Avenue and ending at Maple and Ritchie avenues.

-Evening festivities will begin 7 p.m. at the Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Road. Mayor Bruce Williams will address the crowd, followed by a concert series featuring the city's community band and the announcement of raffle and parade winners.

-Fireworks will begin at 9:30 p.m. to close the celebration.

Correction: This story originally misspelled Belle Ziegler's last name as Zeigler.